The two leading trends in UK craft beer were prominent at this rebranded East London festival.
London
The Golden Ark
In the Noah Man’s Land between inner-city bar and country inn, between craft cool and cask cosiness, floats The Golden Ark, one of London’s newest micropubs.
Last Orders
Bottle shops liquidating? A microbrewery in a football stadium? The cycle has peaked and the bell is ringing.
A Multitude of Sins
London’s Beavertown Brewery celebrated its seventh birthday with seven collaboration beers. Here’s what I thought about them.
A FSTA Buck
Asahi’s acquisition of London’s iconic Fuller’s brewing business had a shocked beer world searching for explanations last Friday. But the explanation is simple: this is a once-in-a-generation offer that Fuller’s board would have been negligent to turn down.
Collaboration x Cannibalisation
The collaboration beer is a novel solution for marketing and distribution at scale―a challenge that used to necessitate ruthless consolidation.
World Famous in Denmark
Despite its name, most businesses in the craft beer industry are differentiated less by their products or manufacturing processes and more by their brand identities.
Pasc-ale’s Wager
A Chaucerian pilgrimage to the Ales Tales Belgian Beer Festival in Bethnal Green, on which two signs are given, three poets share their wisdom, 10 ales are drunk, and one circle is closed.
Brew Day!… “Pacific Northwest”
With a couple of friends to lend a helping hand, brew day can be a hospitable time of aimless conversation, mutual admiration of shiny brewing equipment, and shameless indulgence in good beer, cheese and ham.
